India has many reasons to be concerned about climate change. Its large population depends upon climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and forestry for its livelihood. By the mid-century, annual average river runoff and water availability are projected to increase by 10-40% at high latitudes a...

Additional Rs 40,000 crore allocated to MGNREGA
In a bid to provide work to migrants returning from cities to villages, the Finance Ministry has provided an additional Rs 40,000 crore to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for 2020-21. With this, the scheme alloc...

Jharkhand government launches three schemes to revive rural economy under the MGNREGA
In a bid to revive the rural economy that has been affected by the lockdown owing to COVID-19 pandemic, the Jharkhand government has launched three schemes under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee ...

Covid-19 will have major implications in rural areas where the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), a non-profit organisation has been working towards conservation of natural resources through collective action of local communities. Experience indicates that the complete lockdown to contain the...

Under JJM, Centre to ensure safe drinking water and scale up activities during monsoon
The Centre has advised states to use 25 percent of annual allocation, termed as flexi-funds, under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) for implementing measures including chemical treatment of water so as to ensure safe dri...

With Covid-19 spreading its wings across the world, the impact on quality of life and access to basic human rights will be felt exceedingly more in the global south. It is the nature of disasters, to bare the inherent socio-economic inequities in societies, that are invisibilized during&nbsp...

The conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exce...

India has the most people in the world without access to safe drinking water (133.9 million). Many studies indicate that poor and marginalized populations are the worst affected from waterborne diseases resulting from the consumption of contaminated water. The issue warrants urgent attention as each...

Springs are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address ...

Maharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr. Yusuf Kabir, WASH specialist and emergency focal point for UNICEF Mumbai, who is at the forefront of the containment efforts to find out about their efforts...

Centre advises states to ensure adequate water supply in rural areas during lockdown
As frequent hand washing with soap and water is the most-effective measure to control the spread of coronavirus, the Health Ministry has issued an advisory to states to ensure adequate supply of potable water durin...

The way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was cons...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease a pandemic. Originating from Wuhan in China, it has traversed almost the entire globe, and claimed more than 41,000 lives, while over 8 lakh people are infected already. That’s largely the urban population.
In India, despite all...

Latur in Maharashtra has been facing acute drinking water scarcity over the last month and has been in news again, and that too, inspite of having piped water connections and a good monsoon this year!
Indeed, availability of safe drinking water near the house can provide a number of advantages. It ...

Water is a precious natural resource that ensures human well-being. However, across the globe there is a severe water crisis, which is heightened by issues of inaccessibility and contamination. “The right to water and sanitation is a human right equal to all other human rights, which implies that ...

Developments in geographical information systems (GIS) in India, both in policy and law, have thus far empowered to a greater extent government and business at national and regional level. The real challenge in this sector is to extend this technology to local communities for self-governance and to ...

Centre to finalise National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights
Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs is in the process of finalising the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP), which has been public for over a year and is now under the final stages of extensive consultations wi...

In the wake of a scandal revealing that the World Bank may have suppressed knowledge of money for the poor being siphoned off by elites, all eyes are on the Bank to see whether its commitments to the poor hold water. Now, the Bank has a chance to demonstrate its commitment to vulnerable co...

Efforts are underway by both state and central governments to improve access to safe and adequate drinking water to people, and nationally, as on 31 December 2018, 79% of rural habitations had been covered at 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) but only 47% at 55 lpcd. Yet, in spite of the big push ...

Covid-19 will have major implications in rural areas where the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), a non-profit organisation has been working towards conservation of natural resources through collective action of local communities. Experience indicates that the complete lockdown to contain the spread of the disease has resulted in loss of rural incomes. The risk of spread of the virus too has increased with migrants returning to villages.

The "heal as one" narrative is a false one as the poorest are the most vulnerable to the disease.

With Covid-19 spreading its wings across the world, the impact on quality of life and access to basic human rights will be felt exceedingly more in the global south. It is the nature of disasters, to bare the inherent socio-economic inequities in societies, that are invisibilized during normal times. The Covid-19 pandemic, an unprecedented public health disaster, is a case in point.

Conservation measures such as rainwater harvesting and recharging of groundwater need to be generally well established in both rural and urban areas.

The conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exceeds the rate at which we are recharging water sources. We are faced with water scarcity and will find it hard to meet the future regional demands.

A workshop highlights the need to give a boost to affordable household water treatment and storage technologies.

India has the most people in the world without access to safe drinking water (133.9 million). Many studies indicate that poor and marginalized populations are the worst affected from waterborne diseases resulting from the consumption of contaminated water. The issue warrants urgent attention as each year over 140,000 children under age five die from diarrheal diseases alone.

Jal Jeevan Mission can go a long way to promote springshed management and ensure source sustainability of spring based piped water supply.

Springs are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.

Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF Mumbai are training frontline workers to tackle the spread of COVID-19.

Maharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr. Yusuf Kabir, WASH specialist and emergency focal point for UNICEF Mumbai, who is at the forefront of the containment efforts to find out about their efforts towards water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in urban and rural areas especially to tackle COVID-19 spread.